Air energy studies planned

For the last 15 months, over 80 textile mills in the State have had audits done for the air compressor systems, trained their technicians, and achieved lower energy costs.

Coimbatore-based air compressor manufacturer Elgi Equipments joined hands with Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) for the initiative.

According to Anvar Jay Varadaraj, senior manager – marketing and corporate communications at Elgi Equipments, the company engaged with ITF members for air audits, leadership programmes, training programmes, and installation of Air-Alert devices in the air compressors. It had done 130 air audits resulting in an average 43 % reduction in air energy costs for a mill.

It trained 250 engineers last year and brought in certification programmes this year.

The Air-Alert device has been installed in 21 mills.

Through Air-Alert devices, the mills and Elgi get real time data and information on the machine performance and energy use.

Prabhu Dhamodaran, secretary of the textile federation, said this is a programme done free of cost to its members by Elgi.

Energy costs constitute 12 % to 13 % of production cost for the mills.

The 80 mills have registered Rs. 60 crore energy saving in the last 15 months, he said.

The training is done in batches of 20 to 23 mills. “We are looking at such initiatives with other textile machinery manufacturers too,” he said.

Mr. Varadaraj said the company would look at other sectors such as pharma or auto for similar projects in different geographies.

Though textile industry constituted a very small portion to its over all business, it was a growing sector.